Airline caterer Gate
Gourmet has partnered with synthetic dry ice provider, EcoSlice, to
test a more environmentally friendly dry ice on board commercial
aircraft. The pilot trial is the first of its kind for global
commercial aviation.

Developing out of
Australia, Gate Gourmet and EcoSlice's green dry ice project
received the prestigious Innovation Award in the 2017 New South
Wales (NSW) Green Globe Awards.

Gate Gourmet
Australia’s Head of Compliance, Mark Naylor
said the airline caterer has completed real-time aircraft trials
with great success: “Reducing our environmental impact is a guiding
principle not only for Gate Gourmet but for aviation and food
manufacturing in general - it’s part of our responsibility to our
airline customers, their airline passengers and the aviation
industry,” Mr Naylor said.

“Through partnering
with EcoSlice, we’ve been able to test a synthetic dry ice which
gives us a better quality of refrigeration than normal dry ice, with
less greenhouse emissions. Thanks also to Virgin Australia, we’ve
run real-time aircraft trials with great results.

“These trials, held
in March and June 2017, are not only the first of their kind in
Australia, but also a first in the global commercial airline
catering market. The synthetic dry ice product is innovative, cost
effective, greenhouse friendly and importantly, much safer to use in
the confined space of a commercial plane.

Managing
Director for EcoSlice, Ben
Rogers said EcoSlice was
an idea founded from the need for a ‘greener’ dry ice product in the
market.

“EcoSlice is
environmentally friendly with no Co2 dangerous goods classification,
and many more benefits. It has been independently tested with longer
duration and freezing ability, compared to normal dry ice. We’re
very excited to work with Gate Gourmet on bringing this product to
fruition, a move which is anticipated to assist airlines in reducing
their carbon emissions once we begin mass production for this
product.”